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Blackburne 
 
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Number of games in database: 912
Years covered: 1861 to 1916
Overall record: +448 -224 =197 (62.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      43 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 French Defense (51) 
    C11 C01 C00 C13 C10
 Ruy Lopez (50) 
    C77 C65 C60 C67 C70
 Scotch Game (43) 
    C45
 Vienna Opening (39) 
    C25 C29 C26 C28
 Evans Gambit (36) 
    C51 C52
 French (34) 
    C11 C00 C13 C10
With the Black pieces:
 French Defense (86) 
    C01 C11 C00 C14 C02
 Ruy Lopez (44) 
    C61 C62 C66 C60 C71
 French (38) 
    C11 C00 C10 C13
 Sicilian (32) 
    B45 B21 B22 B25 B27
 Scandinavian (24) 
    B01
 Queen's Pawn Game (23) 
    D00 D05 D02 A46 A40
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   NN vs Blackburne, 1880 0-1
   Blackburne vs NN, 1863 1-0
   NN vs Blackburne, 1871 0-1
   A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne, 1863 0-1
   Blackburne vs J Schwarz, 1881 1-0
   Bird vs Blackburne, 1886 0-1
   Blackburne vs Mr. L, 1886 1-0
   R Steel vs Blackburne, 1881 0-1
   Blackburne vs Lipschutz, 1889 1-0
   Lasker vs Blackburne, 1899 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   tactics 2 by tactics
   The Matches of the 3 Great Players In The 1800's by Knight13
   New York 1889 by suenteus po 147
   London 1883 by suenteus po 147
   Vienna 1873 by suenteus po 147
   Vienna 1882 by suenteus po 147
   Joseph Henry Blackburne by capybara
   FAVORITE PLAYERS by gambitfan
   London 1899 by suenteus po 147
   Paris 1878 by suenteus po 147
   Blackburne Miniatures by ArmyBuddy

GAMES ANNOTATED BY BLACKBURNE: [what is this?]
   NN vs Blackburne, 1871
   NN vs Blackburne, 1880
   Blackburne vs NN, 1863
   Bird vs Blackburne, 1886
   A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne, 1863
   >> 149 GAMES ANNOTATED BY BLACKBURNE

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JOSEPH HENRY BLACKBURNE
(born Dec-10-1841, died Sep-01-1924) United Kingdom

[what is this?]
Joseph Henry Blackburne was born December 10, 1841 in Chorlton, Manchester. He came to be known as "The Black Death". He enjoyed a great deal of success giving blindfold and simultaneous exhibitions. Tournament highlights include first place with Wilhelm Steinitz at Vienna 1873, first at London 1876, and first at Berlin 1881 ahead of Johannes Zukertort. In matchplay he lost twice to Steinitz and also two times against Emanuel Lasker. He fared a little better with Zukertort and Isidor Gunsberg, by splitting a pair of matches. One of the last successes of his career was at the age of 72, when he tied for first place with Frederick D Yates at the 1914 British Championship.

note: Blackburne played on the teams of Steinitz / Bird / Blackburne, Blackburne / Bird / MacDonnell, Bird/Blackburne, Blackburne / Aloof, Steinitz / Blackburne, Blackburne / Steinitz / De Vere, Blackburne / Potter, Blackburne / H Chapman & Joseph Henry Blackburne / Allies.


 page 1 of 37; games 1-25 of 912  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. A Steinkuehler vs Blackburne 0-124 1861 ManchesterC44 King's Pawn Game
2. Paulsen vs Blackburne 1-033 1861 Manchester blind simC00 French Defense
3. Paulsen vs Blackburne 1-050 1861 Manchester (England)C15 French, Winawer
4. Blackburne vs Jebson 1-019 1862 ManchesterB40 Sicilian
5. Blackburne vs F Deacon  0-144 1862 LondonC41 Philidor Defense
6. Blackburne vs Owen 1-023 1862 LondonB00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening
7. Blackburne vs E J Evelyn 1-032 1862 LondonC21 Center Game
8. Blackburne vs Steinitz 0-119 1862 LondonA82 Dutch, Staunton Gambit
9. Blackburne vs G Steinkuehler 1-021 1862 Manchester (England)C51 Evans Gambit
10. Dubois vs Blackburne  ½-½41 1862 LondonC00 French Defense
11. Blackburne vs NN 1-015 1862 BFX ManchesterC38 King's Gambit Accepted
12. Blackburne vs Puller AG  1-050 1862 LondonC32 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit
13. Blackburne vs Ravensworth ½-½22 1862 Ch EnglandB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
14. Hannah vs Blackburne 1-041 1862 LondonC42 Petrov Defense
15. Blackburne vs T W Barnes 0-153 1862 LondonB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
16. Blackburne vs W M Chinnery 1-040 1862 LondonC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
17. Blackburne vs Steinitz  ½-½20 1862 LondonA82 Dutch, Staunton Gambit
18. Blackburne vs S Wellington 1-027 1862 ManchesterC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
19. Anderssen vs Blackburne 1-053 1862 LondonC01 French, Exchange
20. Blackburne vs A Puller 1-050 1862 BFX LondonC31 King's Gambit Declined, Falkbeer Counter Gambit
21. Blackburne vs H B Parminter 0-135 1862 LondonC51 Evans Gambit
22. Steinitz vs Blackburne 1-042 1862 London (England)C01 French, Exchange
23. Blackburne vs J Robey 0-136 1862 LondonC44 King's Pawn Game
24. Blackburne vs Mongredien  ½-½52 1862 LondonB01 Scandinavian
25. Anderssen vs Blackburne 1-031 1862 LondonC33 King's Gambit Accepted
 page 1 of 37; games 1-25 of 912  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Blackburne wins | Blackburne loses  
 

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 5 OF 5 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Aug-30-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: <He left it en prise and I took it en passant.>

–- Joseph Henry Blackburne (after drinking his opponent’s glass of whiskey during a simul)

Aug-30-07   RookFile: Blackburne had a good long life.
Dec-07-07   Judah: <WarmasterKron: <Knight13> Re the Blackburne/Kostic gambit, 4.Nxe5?! is indeed bad, but White's still ok after 4...Qg5! 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.O-O!.> O rly? What after 6...QxN?
Dec-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: Wow! 166th Birthday!

But, J.H.Blackburne's games are still very much alive. Cheers!

Dec-10-07   D4n: There is nothing wrong with sharing first with Steinitz....
Jan-02-08   MichAdams: <He left it en prise and I took it en passant. When he objected, I threw him out of a window.>
Jan-02-08   MichAdams: <Re the Blackburne/Kostic gambit, 4.Nxe5?! is indeed bad, but White's still ok after 4...Qg5! 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.O-O!.> O rly? What after 6...QxN?>

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5
Qg5 5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. O-O Qxe5 7. Bxg8 Rxg8 8. c3 Nc6 9. d4...

With all to play for!

Feb-26-08   chess man: Blackburne is one the greatest players from that era. I love his games!
Mar-08-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: George Henry Mackenzie has a plus score against Blackburne: search "mackenzie vs blackburne". And yet Blackburne is more well known.
May-16-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: Chessmetrics Player Profile: Joseph Blackburne

Born: 1841-Dec

Died: 1924-Sep

Best World Rank: #2 (77 different months between the September 1873 rating list and the February 1889 rating list )

Highest Rating: 2748 on the August 1886 rating list, #2 in world, age 44y8m

Best Individual Performance: 2785 in Frankfurt, 1887, scoring 10/12 (83%) vs 2613-rated opposition

Oct-03-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Blackburne certainly earned his money when giving one of his many simuls across the United Kingdom. An example is the visit made to the Wrexham Chess Club in Wales in 1898. From 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm Blackburne gave a 6 board simultaneous blindfold display. He then would have a meal and a rest before giving a simultaneous exhbition on 30 boards. Blackburne would charge half a crown for a blindfold game and a shilling for an ordinary simultaneous game. Thus the Wrexham displays would have earned Blackburne 45 shillings, or 2 pounds 5 shillings. It has been estimated that Blackburne was playing around 2,000 games a year in simultaneous exhibitions around this time.

Source: Mike Hughes "Taken En Passant", "CHESS", May 2008

Oct-03-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Chessical: <GrahamClayton>: Blackburne would have earned about £180/$320 in current terms for his day's work. If he had to pay for his own accommodation and food and travel, that does not seem a great deal left to pocket as profit.

If we use the Wrexham ratio of 1 blindfold to 5 sighted simultaneous games, for 2,000 games a year he would earn about £10,000/$17,800 in today's value.

Dec-10-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: Close to 20 Gs a year in simuls, plus a few bucks in tournaments, mmybe an odd column for a newspaper/magazine. For doing something he enjoyed doing.
Not bad at all. Especially by today's standards.

At least 90% of today's GMs can't make their living playing Chess. Not to mention the IMs.

In last couple of decades alone quite a few promising GMs gave up their Chess careers, more or less, by the age of 30.

R.I.P. master Blackburne.

Dec-22-08   zzzzzzzzzzzz: <brankat> R.I.P. GRANDMASTER Blackburne
Dec-22-08   zzzzzzzzzzzz: blackburne annotated a lot of games
Jan-14-09   thebribri8: ...and New York City is pretty crowded.
Mar-27-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  amadeus: Chess and Alcohol: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Mar-27-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: From Gunsberg vs Blackburne, 1914:

Tarrasch in the tournament book: <Why does Gunsberg, at an age when Anderssen and Steinitz were still enormously strong, show scarcely a trace of his former strength? And why are the <beaux gestes> of Blackburne, a 73-year-old man -- one cannot say an old man -- still so acceptable? Could it be the power of alcohol, which Blackburne consumed in considerable quantities all his life and which proved to be a medium of preservation for him, while Gunsberg is an outspoken teetotaler? Blackburne's case is a phenomenon that the temperance union must explain, for it is appropriate for reducing their efforts directly <ad absurdum>.>

And let us not forget, Tarrasch was a doctor.

Dec-10-09   WhiteRook48: happy birthday master Blackburne!!
Jan-07-10   HeMateMe: Huh? "Black Death" didn't learn chess till the age of 18? Seems hard to believe. I don't think it would be possible today.

One of< Morphy's> most for-reaching accomplishments was that of inspiring Joseph Blackburne to take up chess. Blackburne had been impressed enough by the champion, that after Morphy's final visit to England in the Spring of 1859, Blackburne, then an 18 year-old laborer, took up chess. The following year Blackburne joined his local chess club in Manchester. Then the next year, 1861, he played, and lost 5-0, a match with the provincial champion, Edward Pindar (who had just won the Manchester tournament in 1861). Just three months after this devastating loss, Blackburne beat the champion in a match +5-1=2 (They also played another match which Blackburne won). During that monumental year, Blackburne was further impressed by the blindfold prowess of a nemesis of Morphy, Louis Paulsen. Blackburne was inspired to try blindfold chess himself. The next year Blackburne entered the London International tournament, winning 9th place, but beating Steinitz in the process. He lost his day job and took up chess professionally, possibly thinking chess to be an easier way to earn a living. If so, it would be ironic that Blackbune turned into one of the hardest working professional players of all time. When people discuss "natural players," those who seem to understand the intricacies of the game almost without effort, the names of Morphy and Capablanca, both privileged child prodigies, come up immediately.< But, having the disadvantage of not even learning chess until he was 18, Blackburnes own meteoric rise attests to his uncanny natural talent >which seems at the very least equal to that of either Morphy of Capablanca. When Blackburne died in 1924, he had been playing professional chess around 60 years.

Jan-27-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: <ughaibu> asked on the thread of this game Kramnik vs Topalov, 2003 about a blindfold game where Blackburne announced a mate in sixteen moves.

"Blackburne's Chess Games" has the following position:

Blackburne - Scott


click for larger view

1.Rxe6+ Kh7
2.Qd3+ Rg6
3.Qxg6+ fxg6
4.Re7+ Kg8
5.Be6+ Kf8
6.Rf7+ Ke8
7.Nf6+ Kd8
8.Rd7+ Kc8
9.Rxa7+ Kb8
10.Nd7+ Kc8
11.Nc5+ Kd8
12.Rd7+ Kc8
13.Rf7+ Kd8
14.Nb7+ Ke8
15.Nxd6+ Kd8
and either 16.Rd7 or 16.Bb6 mates.

Really remarkable considering he was blindfolded. The game isn't in the DB and my book only has the game starting from the position above. It's a pity that the whole game doesn't seem to have survived. Blackburne was a truly great player.

Jan-27-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  ughaibu: Considering this: http://marshtowers.blogspot.com/200... and this: http://books.google.com/books?id=Lv... it seems likely that the score is lost.
Jun-28-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: <percyblakeney>An alleged Blackburne quote: "Chess is a kind of mental alcohol. It inebriates the man who plays it constantly. He lives in a chess atmosphere, and his dreams are of gambits and endgames. I have known many an able man ruined by chess"

<percyblakeney>,
The text of the interview that featured this quote can be found at:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

Jul-16-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Here is an 1888 drawing of Blackburne from the "Vanity Fair" magazine:

http://www.vanityfairprints.com/pag...

Sep-09-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: From the "Sydney Morning Herald" dated the 13th of January 1885:

"Joseph Henry Blackburne, the English chess-player, was fined 5 pounds, with 3 guineas costs, at the Port Melbourne Police Court this morning, for having assaulted a fellow passenger on the 10th of December,on the voyage here."

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